A Marion County Circuit Court judge on Friday sentenced a Salem man to life in prison for fatally shooting a man in 2018 outside an east Salem bar.
Lucias R. Harris, 44, must serve at least 25 years in prison before he can petition the state’s parole board to be considered for release.
Judge Jodie Bureta also sentenced Harris to a lifetime of post-prison supervision if he is released, according to court documents.
Harris shot and killed 21-year-old Tyler A. Longacre, who was unarmed, after Longacre fled from a shooting involving multiple people at Bar Fly’s Grill, 444 Lancaster Dr. N.E, the Marion County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release following the verdict.
Longacre was found dead nearby in the parking lot of DaVita Lancaster Drive Dialysis, 421 Lancaster Dr. N.E.
The sentence comes after a Marion County jury on Aug. 3 found Harris guilty of second-degree murder and possessing a firearm as a felon.
The verdict came after an eight-day retrial. The case originally ended in a mistrial in June 2023 after a jury deadlocked on whether to convict Harris of murder, court documents showed.
The shooting occurred just before 2:30 a.m. on April 14, 2018, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release at the time.
Another man, 24-year-old Tobias Helms-Reese, died in the shooting. None of the people arrested in connection with the bar incident have been charged with killing Helms-Reese.
A third man who was injured during the shooting was hospitalized, according to the sheriff’s office statement.
The night of the shooting, detectives arrested Cain G. Thompson, 28, and Santano G. Sauseda, 29.
A week later, 27-year-old Elijah Watterson was arrested in Palmdale, California in connection with the shooting.
Thomspon pleaded guilty in June 2018 to riot. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail and five years of probation, according to court documents.
Sauseda pleaded guilty that same month to riot and possessing a firearm as a felon. He was sentenced to five years of probation.
Another man, Christopher M. Mendoza, 29, was arrested that same month in connection with the bar incident. Mendoza pleaded no contest in August 2019 to riot. He was sentenced to two days in jail and three years of probation.
Court records showed Thompson, Sauseda and Mendoza were all ordered to have no contact with gangs. Marion County Deputy District Attorney Brendan Murphy did not immediately respond to a written question about whether the incident was gang-related.
Watterson pleaded guilty in November 2018 to two counts of attempted aggravated murder, possessing a firearm as a felon and riot.
He was sentenced to 20 years in prison with three years of post-prison supervision. His earliest release date would be in 2038, according to records of the state Department of Corrections.
Harris was arrested in Georgia for his role in the shooting in January 2019, nine months after the incident.
He has criminal convictions dating back to 2000, including assault, fleeing police, hindering prosecution and criminal mistreatment, court records showed.
Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.
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Ardeshir Tabrizian has covered criminal justice and housing for Salem Reporter since September 2021. As an Oregon native, his award-winning watchdog journalism has traversed the state. He has done reporting for The Oregonian, Eugene Weekly and Malheur Enterprise.
